CH 99

[The Goddess’s Curse]

It happened in an instant.

“……Huh?”

Slash! A flash-like quickdraw technique mercilessly sent Phinis-sama’s head flying.

――Shaa!

Following that, blood spewed out from the base of her neck like a fountain, and as it did, Elysium looked back at her, “As I thought,” and said, “no matter how powerful you may be, ultimately you are not a war-specialized goddess. This result is natural. That being said, it appears I still can’t kill you.”

“Ah… ah…” Phinis-sama’s head landed on the ground; her eyes opened wide in a daze.

As Elysium said, looked like she was still alive.

It was a given as gods were immortal, but I felt like averting my eyes from such a gruesome sight.

In the meantime, Phinis-sama’s face distorted in hatred and she said, “…I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! —Kill… kill the demi-human!”

““““Guooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!””””

At that moment, the saints who had been turned into puppets all attacked Elysium.

“Demi-human… demi-human… demi-human…!” At the same time, Phinis-sama’s head and body slowly sank into a black vortex which appeared on the ground.

——This is our chance to retreat!

“—Everyone!”

“““““!””””” I immediately called out to the girls and transformed into Fire God Form.

“A wise decision. Do your best to come up with it, all right? —’Plan to stop the goddess’, I mean.” As Elysium was dealing with the saints, we withdrew from the place, taking Shiva along with us.

◇ ◇

We somehow returned to the snowy city Estona and treated Shiva at the inn.

“This is…” I muttered.

“Probably some kind of ‘curse’… and a very powerful one too…” Magmell said.

Although Shiva’s physical wounds were completely closed, her body was covered in what looked like black bruises all over.

“Fufu, should I say as expected of the Goddess of the End, I wonder…? Her personality is really nasty… ugh.” Perhaps the bruises hurt, Shiva made a pained expression.

I had tried using Vermillion Bird Form’s regenerating and purifying power, but the bruises wouldn’t go away, and now we ran out of options.

What on earth should we do…

“My, are you worried about me…? I’m your enemy, though…” Shiva asked with a smile on her pale face.

Her breathing was rough, and she looked to be in so much pain.

“Yes, that’s a given. You’re not our enemy anyway,” I said.

“…Why would you think so?” Shiva asked.

“Well, even if you ask me why… I mean, why did you even give me the power of 《Treasure Shield》—no, tell me to gather the power of the saintesses, which is necessary to kill a god? You were intending to kill Phinis-sama from the very start, weren’t you?”

“I wonder, was I…?” Though Shiva giggled bewitchingly, her face was contorted in a grimace of pain.

“Fumu, in any case, her treatment is our current topmost priority. Since Exa’s power isn’t enough to cure her, we need to ask Igniver-sama for help,” Arca said.

“Indeed. Or should we pay a visit to Turbo-sama, perhaps? I mean, her ability to eliminate ‘death’ should be more powerful than Exa’s,” Zana said.

Just then.

“Either of them is too far away from here… Ain’t she gonna drop dead on the way? This auntie, I mean.”

“Auntie…!?” Shiva in the bed reacted sensitively to Ophir’s words, “Listen here, I may look like this, but I’m still 27, I’m telling you…!?”

But.

“Oh, yer an old hag, then.”

“Old ha—!?”

Looked like in Ophir’s mind, women who were close to 30 were considered old.

I wondered if it was because Turbo-sama looked like 30-ish outwardly.

To me, women at that age range were totally still onee-san, though…

Anyways, Shiva’s anger was clearly ignited. “Fu, fufu, you’re quite bold… I was thinking of leaving quietly, but I changed my mind… —Boy, I’ll have you lend me your power, okay…?”

“What? But my power isn’t…”

“No, you can definitely cure me with your power…”

“What, for real!?”

As I was taken by surprise, Shiva nodded and said, “But of course… So lend me your power, will you…?”

“G-got it. I’ll do whatever I can to save you.” I nodded.

“Thanks…” Shiva smiled happily and continued, “Then—embrace me.”

“……Huh?”

“““““Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!?”””””

Naturally, I was shocked speechless, and a big frown appeared on the girls’ faces.